“We’re gonna continue to do what we do offensively,” Richt said. “As far as we’re gonna be very serious about running the football, we’re gonna be very serious about play-action pass, we’re gonna be very serious about being able to drop back and throw the ball as good as anybody. We’ll still have the ability to use fast tempo. All those things will be in place.

“The skill sets that we’ve recruited for, they have nothing to worry about, because we’re gonna use them to their fullest.”

So Richt has his man, Brian Schottenheimer, an NFL coach with nine years’ experience as an offensive coordinator with the New York Jets and St. Louis Rams. So how do I feel about the news of Georgia’s next offensive coordinator? Honestly, I’m not sure.

That’s not meant as a reflection on Schottenheimer, at least not as much as you’d think. It’s more about the circumstances behind his hire. Unlike the defensive side of things, the OC slot on Richt’s staff has been the epitome of stability, first, with Richt handling the duties himself, then with Bobo groomed on the job and eventually maturing into a first-rate coordinator. Bobo’s departure doesn’t come as a relief, as Martinez’ and Grantham’s did. So I’m a little deflated, and I would probably feel that way regardless of who the new coach might be.

The other part of my ambiguity stems from my admitted lack of familiarity with the NFL. I haven’t followed the pros in a long time, so I’m not in a real good position to judge Schottenheimer’s body of work. Fortunately, I know a couple of guys who do and I’m going to take the opportunity to share a conversation I had with them on Twitter when the news came out.

You can see what I’m getting at here, right? Schottenheimer’s time in the NFL most recently has been at two stops where his head coaches essentially gave him the keys to the car and left him to his own devices. I don’t expect Richt to operate in a similar way, both because of his background and because he’s got very definite ideas about what he wants his offensive coordinator to do. And I would be shocked, quite frankly, if Richt didn’t make that clear during the interview process and if he didn’t hear something in response from Schottenheimer that convinced him Schottenheimer couldn’t manage Georgia’s offense in that capacity.

That, of course, is no guarantee that things are going to work. There are pluses and minuses Schottenheimer brings to the job and we’ll have to wait and see how they play out. A few concerns:

Recruiting. The man hasn’t been in the college ranks in well over a decade. And Mike Bobo he isn’t. That’s nothing he can help, but the question is how much of Georgia’s recruiting water can he carry? The good thing is that he’s surrounded by a staff that is very good on the recruiting front. And the Schottenheimer name carries some weight to it – just ask Jacob Eason’s dad.

Compensation. Not his per se, which I assume is going to be fairly hefty, but rather how the rest of the staff is treated in the aftermath. My guess is that this won’t be a big deal, as Butts-Mehre continues its remarkable 180 over the last week or so with coaching salaries. It’s worth watching until we know, though.

The NFL record. It’s nothing exciting. How much of that is on him and how much is on the talent he had to work with is something we’ll know a lot better a year from now. One thing’s for sure… relatively speaking, he’s got a lot more to work with in Athens in comparison with the opposition than he did at either New York or St. Louis. And about that whole he’s-been-a-longstanding-coach-in-the-NFL-so-he-must-be-good thing? That’s probably what Ray Goff said about Marion Campbell. Georgia’s offenses have performed better as of late than Schottenheimer’s have, so let’s hope the program rubs off on the coach.

The experience. This one’s more on Richt than on Schottenheimer, but, really, doesn’t this almost feel bi-polar? Grantham’s hired and we hear all about how great getting a coordinator with NFL experience is. Then Pruitt comes in and suddenly it’s all about having the high school background to be able to teach kids. Now we’re back where we were. Granted, if you want to run a pro-style offense, you’re going to find more guys who know it if they have NFL experience, but it’s still a little back and forth to me.

Motivation. It’s not money, because it’s unlikely he’ll be making more in Athens than he was in St. Louis. He’s not out of work; Fisher had already announced he was being retained for another season. It strikes me that Schottenheimer has ambitions of being a head coach someday soon. He’s already applied for openings on the college and pro level. A man who wants that isn’t coming to Georgia to show up Mark Richt by either failing to work with him or taking an offense that’s been very successful and submarining it.

Staff continuity. I don’t think you say something like this upon your hire – “I’m thrilled to be part of an elite program with such national tradition and a great staff already in place” – unless you’ve been told the staff is staying and you’re satisfied with that.

It’s a crap shoot, but what big hire isn’t? Perhaps the item that makes me most comfortable right now is the Belk Bowl. If Georgia could go out and eviscerate a nationally ranked defense with a temporary offensive coordinator who was on the job for a week, you’ve got to think there are plenty of pieces in place for Schottenheimer to make do with. We’ll see if that’s enough.

68 responses to “The Schottenheimer hire”

If he sticks with Richt’s/Bobo’s playbook, I think it will be fine. If he tries to install an NFL offense with its ridiculous terminology and complexity, then I know how the movie ends: see Grantham, Weiss, Callahan.

It’s a weird hire, but I think Richt has an idea of not wanting to upset the apple cart and filled the position accordingly.

Any UGA fam with half a brain and decent eyesight should have known Bobo was a good coach who would be hard to replace. Realistically it would be hard from a production standpoint for his sucessor to do much better than what we are used to, we can only hope his sucessor can match the production we are accustomed to because there aren’t a whole lot of guys out there who have done better. Conversely there is a whole lot of room for things to get worse. With that said, I am far more impressed with this hire than I was with the names being tossed around previously. The NFL and CFB are completely different animals. Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban both sucked in the pros. It is almost impossible to have sustained success in the pros without an elite quarterback and there are far fewer elite quarterbacks than there are teams. Elite NFL quarterbacks are largely born not made. You have to have a combination of the physical tools, the mental acumen, and a first rate work ethic. A coach can help a guy develop some granted, and may can even sell a guy to work hard but in regards to the key ingredients of an elite NFL quarterback, for the most part a guy either has them or he does not. Plenty of guys have had long careers as journeyman/place holder quarterbacks who have had 2 of 3 but it is no accident that the same quarterbacks tend to be in the playoffs year after year. For pete’s sake Tom Brady made Charlie Weis look good! Schott never had an elite QB with either the Rams or the Jets but the bottom line is that you don’t hang around for nine years as a coordinator in the NFL if you don’t know what you are doing, especially working for guy’s like Jeff Fisher. All things considered this a great hire. As always there are no guarantees but there is a lot to like here versus what was realistically available.

“You don’t hang around for nine years as a coordinator in the NFL if you don’t know what you are doing.”

At this point, that’s exactly my view on the hire. NFL owners are much less patient with coaching staffs than college ADs. If he didn’t know what he was doing, he would have been out of a coordinator job a long time ago. I’m willing to give him a chance, but like others have said, the “Mickey Mouse” offense of Richt and Bobo has ripped defenses really since 2008. No reason with the type of skill people we recruit to mess around with that.

The Georgia offense is an NFL offense without the complex terminology. I think whoever was the Lions’ coach at the time said that Stafford was one of the most prepared college QBs he had seen purely because of the Georgia system. A lot is put on the QB to make sight adjustments and checks at the line. The passing game is very complex and requires the QB and the receivers to both make reads and adjustments (you don’t see a lot of college offenses that have the deep out, back shoulder throw in their packages). The running game is what pretty much every NFL team does with formation and blocking schemes.

“Realistically it would be hard from a production standpoint for his sucessor to do much better than what we are used to, we can only hope his sucessor can match the production we are accustomed to because there aren’t a whole lot of guys out there who have done better. Conversely there is a whole lot of room for things to get worse. “

Schottenheimer never even had functional quarterbacks as an OC. Mark Sanchez is a mess, and Sam Bradford was never healthy. This year, St Louis had a good defense and no QB, so Schottenheimer was probably a conservative play caller out of necessity. And he liked to run the ball in New York, so that’s a good sign.

A concern is the complaint about not using his best weapons in St Louis; Bobo did an outstanding job of making sure Gurley and Chubb were fresh for the 4th quarter, as well as getting Mason to spread the ball around to his receivers.

I’m in the same boat with you Senator when it comes to the NFL. I quit watching years ago. And I, like sniffer, have mixed feelings about the hire but trust MR’s (and company) desire to work with people that fit the program. And according to MR’s pre-hire commits…who ever comes in is expected to run the system that is in place. So, we’re not looking for some offensive minded genius to come in and wow everyone…just a guy that than manage the company policies. I think the key is going to be the next level coaching that will be teaching the players technique. Much like we feel that is happening on the D side of the ball. I’m anxious to see the OL hire now.

My biggest concern is him trying to install a complex NFL style offense. Maybe it won’t matter on the offensive side of the ball as much as it did on the defensive side. For sure, CTG confused his players. In the end, CBS is not CTG and it’s probably not fair to compare the two just because they are from the NFL.

I’m hopeful. CBS has been a coach in training since his days in college. Combine that with a great work ethic and the athletes we have in place. We could have nice results. It could take a couple of years since we will be starting very inexperienced QBs and they may have to learn a new system, even if it is built on the same fundamental plays.

Kids bs of sums up a lot of my thoughts on it as well. I have AIT less concern on the NFL thing, because Richt is going to have a lot more input on offense than defense. I think Schotty wants college experience as resume building for a head coach job, and any idiot can see that Mark Richt has a history of grooming people for bigger things. I have zero heartburn about this hire… Which isn’t to say I think the offensive transition will be completely smooth.

Thank senator. That answered a lot of my questions. Richt is Georgia’s offense and Georgia’s offense ls Richt. Schott brings experience to add to Richt’s bag, but the offense will be a reflection of coach Richt?

The only thing I’ll add is that you forgot to mention tenure/longevity. Given his recent strenuous search for a head-coaching position, we can’t believe Schottenheimer is here for the long-haul. Why would Richt make this hire when he knows there’s a good chance he’ll have to do it within the next two years again?

We are fairly likely to be winning some games regardless of whether we continue scoring 41 points per contest. The D is likely on a nice upswing. Having continuity at the QB coach position would be nice with Eason coming on board and not wanting to screw up that opportunity.

Mayor…can you elaborate? IYHO…does it say something positive or negative about CMR?
I am in a wait and see mode concerning this hire. By all accounts he is a well liked guy personally. He certainly has been around a who’s who of football coaches and players and appears to have a mind for offensive side of football. I like the friendship and connection with Drew Brees and others. If he runs the GA offense as it is and adds a couple of wrinkles I think he will do fine. If he changes a bunch of things then I think it could potentially cause problems.

My biggest concern is what you touched on above. Will he go the Bill Callahan route and put an entire NFL offense on college kids, causing paralysis by analysis, or will he adapt his wrinkles within the offense? As you said, this is something that absolutely has to be discussed and laid out in the interview. If he understands the limitations of collegiate players in terms of offense installation, we’ll be just fine.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” Me, either. But you mentioning Goff’s hire of Marion Campbell reminds me of a conversation I had with my brother at the time. He was pretty enthusiastic about it, but my response was “all we really know is that he has experience coaching losing pro football teams.”

Sometimes I think guys carry losing or winning around them like a shroud. As Napoleon said “I have plenty of clever generals but just give me a lucky one.” If there’s one thing Mark Richt’s teams need, it’s luck. Well, maybe Schotty will pick up a four leaf clover on the way to Athens.

Ray Goff was a walking disaster himself though. Truthfully, he’s one of the worst head coaches in the history of the conference. If you brought Bill Walsh in to work under him, as great as Bill was he’d still have Ray to deal with calling the shots.

Ray Goff was 46-34-1. That’s a .575 winning percentage. Not one of the “worst head coaches in conference history” by a long shot–just not good enough. Plus Goff was handcuffed by the post-Jan Kemp “unilateral disarmament” in recruiting foisted on the Georgia coaching staff by the post-Fred Davison administration.

In Campbell’s defense, he did have some darn good defenses when he was with Philly under Vermeil. Of course, Vermeil is another Shotty’s mentors. The swamp fox messed up taking a job with the lowly falcons/smith family (twice). And Goff hiring him was definitely a desperation move.

Most of the reviews of Schotty’s time in NY and STL have been bad. I mean bad.

All this “he didn’t have an elite QB” talk–’elite’ is a meaningless word we hang on QBs who both prepare well, have playmakers, and are in effective offensive systems.

Forget all this crap about Bradford not being elite. Bradford was a No 1 pick in the draft for a reason. The Schottster’s offensive system didn’t get the best out of him. Plain and simple. Same with Mark Sanchez, another outstanding prospect that fizzled under his tutelage (Sanchez has done far better with the Eagles and Chip Kelly, because of improved coaching and a better system).

I’m not a football coach and it’s best to just trust Richt, a successful offensive guru if there’s ever been one.

If you can accept that Mark Richt is to offense what Nick Saban is to defense, then would anybody here question Nick Saban’s selection of a defensive coordinator? I think mostly not.

We still have some staffing to do. Will Friend seems to have left the offensive line cadre in better shape than its been in many years, and the recruiting picture for offensive linemen is right pretty, too.

Between Mark Richt and his new OC, I am confident we’ll have somebody running the O line cadre who knows what they are doing.

But even a Mark Richt uber fan would have to say…these questions will settle themselves on the field.

My snide side makes me shake my head that the opinion of the father of a kid who is not even on campus, and won’t be for a year has some weight with the fan base. Hell for all we know, Schottenheimer (whew) will turn Faton Bauta or Jacob Park or Ramsey into the next Peyton Manning and Eason will transfer to Auburn as a redshirt freshman.

The three QB’s who played for the Rams this year: Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, and Johnny Hekker. You aren’t going to win very many games with those guys.

The biggest knock I’ve heard on the guy is that he wastes Tavon Austin… a 5’8″ 176 lb WR. Where exactly are you going to line him up where he has the advantage? He is slightly smaller than Wes Welker and different strengths (speed vs. hands), so that comparison is moot. It’s like complaining that Bobo didn’t use Isaiah McKenzie enough in the offense if Joystick was the best player on that side of the ball. That’s not a coordinator problem, that’s a personnel problem.

He had Tre Mason who probably will be good next year, but rookie RB’s rarely do well. His o-line also gave up 47 sacks, so that might have something to do with his conservative, short passing game. Oh, and playing the Cardinals (5th in scoring defense), 49ers (10th), and Seahawks (1st) six times probably doesn’t help a struggling offense with no stars and no QB.

None of that is to say that I believe him to be the greatest hire ever. I don’t know, and you (the collective readership) don’t either. I find it hard to be overly critical at this point when he never had the tools to work with that he does here. If UGA was a talent-poor school that had to get the most out of 2 and 3 star guys to compete, then I would be much more concerned. Instead, he has really good options at RB, TE, WR, and UGA is a destination for QB’s. I’ll reserve my judgment until the first time they go 3-and-out, and then I’ll give him the what-for. Until then, I’ll allow him a honeymoon period.

My initial reaction was straight from the Spencer Hall playbook that I’m not interested in NFLAIDS making it’s way to Athens. In all honesty, this hire is going to be impossible to have an intelligent conversation about until there are actually games played and tape to evaluate. However, let’s just say this struck me as the epitome of a shoulder shrug / meh hire. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing in and of itself, but this definitely isn’t an obvious big time hire like Pruitt was last year. Also of note, let’s just say that it doesn’t seem that Rams fans have the same sense of dread regarding his departure that we did about Bobo.

Good heavens, the man’s been an NFL OC for 9 years, he can coach football offense.

Relax people, I don’t think Coach Richt could have done better that that.

Coach Schott’s reason for leaving?
1- he wasn’t able to have the kind of talent and personnel he wanted, in college, this will not be an issue, he’ll have 4-5 stars at every playmaker position.
2- his family is in the South, wife is from Alabama, dad is in Charlotte.

I L-O-V-E this hire, I don’t care what the pundits say, they lost their guy, of course they’ll try and spin it that he was pushed out, he wasn’t according to his coach and himself.

Critics sure, NY hates every OC Coordinator. But he’s the one that got them to 2 division championships.

Richt has his coach. I hope he gets a chnce to show his stuff before he is eviscerated by minutiae mania.

Senator, would appreciate it if you offered a separate “Game Analysis” post after Spring and each scheduled game next year to catch all the lame personal coaching remarks that will be coming from trolls and the fan sector that tries to mimic the Vent. It may help in all your other posts.

It is fair for there to be some degree of apprehension regardless of the candidate selected. None of us can know yet how this will play out but the BS hire is probably the best chance for success we could have gotten. The only risk seems to be if we overhauled the offensive system and changed the terminology, I can’t see that happening with Richt still in charge and a majority of the offense returning. A lesser risk is how CBS will fare on the recruiting trail since he hasn’t played that role for some time, and never at this level. With his longevity and exposure to well-known NLS names, I can’t see him falling on his face there. All in all, I am pleased with the hire and do not expect to see significant changes with the offense. If I had to pick my biggest concern it would be the amount of time he might stay in Athens, this offense is going to continue being successful the next couple of years, at least. Let’s just hope the defense can close the gap.

Something I found interesting when looking at Schotty’s NFL career is that the Jets offense went in the tank when he left and the Rams offense was terrible when he got there and he improved it tremendously. I’m not getting the bad mouthing towards him from the fans of those teams and the media. He made those offenses better.

Fans are fans. Look at all the grief Bobo caught. Chavis has sure dropped in popularity at LSU for his departure.
I’m like Bluto kinda deflated. Nothing is for sure when it comes to these hires. Hope he can handle it. I kinda wanted another Pruitt style hire didn’t expect someone from the NFL again.

And I haven’t thought about the Swamp Fox’s return to Georgia from the NFL in quite a while. My Dad was a big fan. He was a good DC but making the step to HC was not in him. It had also been a while since he was a DC when CRG hired him. We all had hope he could help.

“At this point, we can see a real trend in Campbell’s defenses when he is the coordinator, and it’s a good trend. Not only were most of his defenses in both stops above average, but they were particularly good at pass defense, and in each case it was while only one player — a lineman — received great acclaim (Humphrey in Atlanta and Johnson in Philadelphia).”http://www.footballperspective.com/how-did-marion-campbell-keep-getting-hired/

Not a clear cut home run hire, but not a guaranteed disaster either. The college game is different from the pros (I know…”duh” you say). Strengths in one don’t translate strengths in the other (ala Saban, Spurrier, etc…). However, a weakness in one may be a strength in the other.

In my unqualified humble opinion, here are the keys to success:

1) keep the offense simple enough for the unit to have a chance to execute
2) develop the QB’s to the best of their ability (particularly mentally)
3) recruit adequately
4) know your matchups

The last one is a theory that I have as to why pro guys can struggle in college. The delta between the best guy at a position in the pros and the worst guy at a position, is half a step…a fraction of a second…half an inch vertical leap…etc… In other words, it’s very minimal. In college, there can be a dramatic difference in talent between your starter and 2nd string. You can’t plug and play as much at each position. It’s not simply next man up. Every play call is not only executed based on scheme, but who is on the field at that time (best example is the ‘Bama game in ’07 where we went for the TD on the first play in OT because Mikey Henderson had the 1:1 advantage).

Jim’s manning the cool aid stand and has plenty of poured drinks ready to go! 😉 I’ll be hanging out here for a little bit.

I hope Schot will bend to Richts system so that there will not be too much disruption in the terminology. I think Richt learned from Grantham about making schemes too complex. I would of been a little more concerned had Richt gone out and hired a high stat OC guy with a completely new system that he wanted to install.

I believe the guy can coach QB’s and help recruit simply by listing the names he has coached. Lets wait and see on the playcalling. Whoever you got back there will be seconded guessed.

This is probably going to sound more negative than I intend, but what the Hell?

Am I the only one who thinks this move smells like the Grantham move in reverse? As I understand it, Schottenheimer was not very well liked by the Rams fans, yet the team had already announced he would be retained. Then, quite suddenly, he had a new job.

Yes, we can agree on those things. I guess I’ll be forever curious about the Grantham exit. I just don’t completely believe the official story. And I’m not sure I believe the official story of this move, either.

Like most rabid college football fans and I admit I am one of them, damn don’t we want instant success! We do not want to wait. If someone walked up to one of us Georgia Bulldog fans and offered us a free twenty dollar bill we would complain that is was not 4 five dollar bills…He is going to call games within the parameters that Mark Richt gives him just like Bobo did. Let’s support this guy as he moves to Athens and pray he can change some of our rotten luck to good luck for a few years!!!

Ah Georgia fans, we get pissed when we get Dawggraged by others but we are usually harder on us than the outside. 1. Richt wants somebody that can coach a QB: 2. he wants someone that can run HIS offense: 3. He wants someone who understands 1 & 2 above. He got him. I have said it before and I’ll say it again it’s the offensive line that matters the most. That haire is the one we need to worry about because for most of CMR’s 14 years we have not had an even slightly dominate offensive line. We only need to find a center and the starting 5 will be set. Lord knows when Andrews went out in a game the line lost its brains. I wait for the offensive line coach selection with eager anticipation.

I have some real misgivings about this hire. First, Shotty isn’t a college guy – so there’s no history of recruiting or coaching kids.

I’ve seen many comments saying he’ll run Richt’s offense. Truth is, Bobo had much better offenses the past few years than CMR ever had at UGA. I’d rather see Shotty run Bobo’s offense, than have him run CMR’s offense. And there is a difference.

Shotty’s nfl career is best described as ‘ho hum’. Doesn’t appear innovative or imaginative. Has he pulled upsets or wins out at the last minute? – apparently not. Has he coached players up? – apparently not. Has he been successful evaluating talent and picking players (either waiver, free agent or the draft)? – apparently not.

Certainly hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see “successful past” written anywhere on this guy’s résumé. Maybe he needs to get away from the nfl and his father’s legacy, so he can make a name for himself in cfb. If he’s got ‘smarts’, can work hard, and learns from his mistakes, he could turn into a good hire. But there’s nothing he’s done so far that shows he’s already achieved being a top OC/QB coach.

Wonder why Coach Richt hired him if it’s as bad as you seem to indicate? Wonder why Saban interviewed him if he’s so awful, I thought Saban was a decent coach and judge of talent. no? How’s he last for 9 years in the NFL with just 2 teams if he’s as bad as you say?,I thought Drew Brees turned out ok, no? I thought getting the awful Jets to the div game 2 years was unsually good, jets haven’t been back to a title game after he left, I thought that was pretty good, you say no to that too? I’m good going with Coach Richt and Coach Saban’s opinion, and the 2 NFL Head Coaches who hired him.

Like I said, “I certainly hope I’m wrong”. I don’t follow the nfl as closely as I used to, though I’ve heard shottys name brought up as a potential HC in the past. Considering its the nfl, I wonder how a guy works as an OC for 9 years, yet doesn’t get a shot as a HC.

So saban hired kiffin ahead of shotty!? Is that supposed to make me more confident about shotty?

Per your question “Wonder why Coach Richt hired him if it’s as bad as you seem to indicate?” I never said shotty was “bad”. I said “I have misgivings”. CMR has made some very poor hires, and he’s made some very good ones. Only time will tell which category this hire falls into.

Some report he turned down Saban’s offer to run his offense, just to clarify. Some say he only interviewed, either way, Saban is the Apex of College Football, proves this new coach is the Bonafide real deal. Maybe you’re right about your many misgivings, and Richt and Saban and Fisher are all wrong, but I doubt it. Saban and Spurrier didn’t do well in the NFL but they did all right in college, both are Hall of Fame coaches. College is easier because you get to select your talent really carefully–and you have more autonomy because a lot less money/risk is involved——see Saban and Spurrier if you doubt that. I admire any coach who gets the NY Jets 1 game shy of the SuperBowl, twice. The Jets didn’t do it again once Coach Schott moved on, worthy of note. This was a stellar hire. This guy’s a complete stud. He’s a likable guy like Bobo from all reports, and so he’ll have that same style of recruiting, he’s a people person. His Qb’s have done well under his guidance. No doubts about this one, he’s a ringer.

“If Georgia could go out and eviscerate a nationally ranked defense with a temporary offensive coordinator who was on the job for a week, you’ve got to think there are plenty of pieces in place for Schottenheimer to make do with. We’ll see if that’s enough.”

Is this a joke? It was the BELK BOWL, which is almost as prestigious as the Music City Bowl, and Louisville gave up 40 to UK at home in their previous game. The one good thing that came out of the Tech loss was that TCU got to expose Ole Miss rather than us.

The prestige of the Belk Bowl has nothing to do with the ranking of Louisville’s defense. They had the number 3 ranked rush defense in the country, and Lily, Chubb, and Co managed to run for 292 yards on them. That’s almost 200 yards MORE than they averaged all season.

The point is if our offense, with a temporary coordinator can do THAT, it’s got some potential.

Quote Of The Day

“But outside of that, the biggest advantage you can have is have good leadership, have a veteran football team, and when you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter whether you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher, when you don’t have leadership and you don’t have the experience at certain positions.”— Kirby Smart, Dawgs247, 3/31/20